Levi E. Hummell
Levi E. Hummell, of Sims Township, Grant county, Indiana, is one of the most respected and well liked men in the county. Quiet and absorbed in the work of his farm, he yet has many friends, who have been attracted to him by his strong character, and the honesty and uprightness of his nature. Mr. Hummell has been a hard worker all of his life and his success is no more than he deserves. He is now the owner of one of the best farms in Sims Township, and has his land in a fine state of cultivation.
Isaac Hummell, the father of Levi E. Hummell, was born in Pennsylvania, and married Barbara Ann Bowers, who was a native of Ohio. To them Levi E. Hummell was born on the 8th of February, 1858, in Allen County, Ohio, near Delphos. Just six months later, on the 8th of August, 1858, Mrs. Hummell died, and for the two years her little motherless son was cared for by her relatives. Then his father married again and he went to live with his father and step-mother. He attended the common schools in Allen County, Ohio, and later Van Wert County, Ohio, and then in 1867 he accompanied his father to Indiana. Here they located in Richland Township, in Grant county, and the boy went to school in Richland and Sims Townships until he was twenty years of age. He then attended the county normal school for a year and the end of the year found him ready to go to work. He began life on a farm, working by the day, month or year. His sole possession at this time was a horse and buggy. He continued in this way, gradually laying aside money with which he eventually purchased land. Shortly after his marriage in 1886 he bought eighteen acres of land, but he was in debt for some of it. He now owns eighty-three acres of well improved and valuable land, and is a general farmer and stock raiser. His farm is located on Section 26, in Sims Township, a mile east and a quarter of a mile south of Swayzee.
Mr. Hummell and his family are members of the Primitive Baptist church and he is one of the Deacons of the Church. In politics he is a member of the Democratic party, and he has served as constable of the township. He is a stock holder in the Swayzee Co-operative Telephone Company and was one of the charter members of that concern.
Mr. Hummell was married on the 1st of December, 1886, to Miss Anna U. Pence, a daughter of Lewis C. Pence and Mary J. (Mauler) Pence. Mrs. Hummell was born and reared in Sims Township, where she also attended school. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hummell. Basil W., who was born on the 20th of May, 1890, having been graduated from the Swayzee High School, had one term in the Marion Normal College, and is now a teacher in the public schools. He married Miss Laura B. De Vore and lives on a farm in Washington Township, but is still teaching. Dea May, who was born on February 7, 1895, is a graduate of the Swayzee High School and is living at home.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.